Osborne Vixen

The Osborne Vixen is a "luggable" portable computer announced by the Osborne Computer Corporation in November 1984, as a follow-up to their Osborne 1 and Osborne Executive system.[1][2][3]

Osborne Vixen

Also known as	Osborne 4
Developer	Adam Osborne
Type	Portable computer
Release date	1984
Introductory price	US$1,298 (equivalent to $3,700 in 2022)
Operating system	CP/M, CP/M Plus
CPU	Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz
Memory	64 KB
Storage	Two half-height DSDD 5.25" floppy drives
Display	7" amber monochrome CRT, 80 x 24 character text
Connectivity	Serial port, Parallel port
Mass	18 lb (8.2 kg)
Predecessor	Osborne Executive

Osborne Vixen enclosure

The Vixen has a 4 MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor with 64 KB dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and 4 KB EPROM.[4] It has a 7-inch diagonal amber display that can show 24 lines by 80 columns of memory mapped video. It uses two 400 KB disk drives, utilizing double-density double-sided 5.25" diskettes. As a luggable, it weighs about 18 pounds. Contemporary advertising pointed out that it could fit under the seat in an airplane, with dimensions of 125⁄8 by 161⁄4 by 61⁄4 inches (321 by 413 by 159 mm).

When it was released, the Vixen had a retail price of $1298.[3] Customers also had the option of purchasing an external 10 megabyte hard disk for $1495.[3]

The Vixen used version 2.2 of the CP/M operating system. It was also bundled with a number of software packages: WordStar, the popular word processing package; SuperCalc, a spreadsheet; MBASIC, a programming language; Osboard, a graphics and drawing program; TurnKey, a system utility; Media Master, a data interchange program that allowed compatibility with over "200 other computers"; and Desolation, a game.[5][3]

The Vixen was also known as the Osborne 4.[3] It was developed and released after the bankruptcy of the Osborne Computer Corporation. An earlier system also called "Vixen" was never released.[6] Due to technical problems with prototypes and the corporate bankruptcy, by the time the CP/M Vixen was introduced, it had already been made obsolete by MS-DOS IBM PC compatibles.[7] A last ditch effort to design and market a fully IBM PC compatible produced three prototypes, but too late to save the company from bankruptcy.